CASE REPORT

BIOENERGY HEALING: A THEORETICAL MODEL AND CASE SERIES

Jeff Levin, PhD, MPH,1# and Laura Mead, CBT2

INTRODUCTION The historical trajectories of Western medical research on so

Clinical and basic science research on modalities of complemen- many CAM modalities were similarly flawed until concerted
tary and alternative medicine (CAM) have become increasingly efforts were made to set coherent research agendas featuring
prominent over the past decade. Much of the mainstreaming of meaningful collaboration between scientists and practitioners.3
CAM within academic medicine can be attributed to the estab- There is no reason to expect that research on healing will not
lishment and growth of the National Center for Complemen- follow the same path. The challenge is to advance the field to the
tary and Alternative Medicine at the U.S. National Institutes of point where a critical mass is reached that can facilitate such
Health. But, just as likely, the existence and success of the center collaboration.
also reflect a steady elevation in the status of alternative medical Another big impediment to progress in the empirical study of
practices and practitioners, which began in the 1970s. An ob- healers and healing is rampant confusion regarding the term
servable consequence of the professionalization of CAM and its healing. This issue is summed up by one of the present authors
sanctioning within biomedicine has been a concomitant eleva- (J.L.) in a forthcoming article in this journal:
tion in status and sanction for many discrete therapeutic modal-
ities, once viewed as one-off exemplars of unconventional med- To some, healing is an intervention, as in Therapeutic
icine but now linked under the common rubric of CAM. The Touch or Reiki. Healing is something done by healers—a
most professionally and socially marginal of these modalities, therapeutic modality delivered by a practitioner to a client.
historically, and the most derided, has been the work of healers To others, healing is an outcome, such as recovery from
(ie, practitioners of various forms of hands-on and/or energy- illness or curing of a disease. As a result of treatment,
based healing). As such, their acceptance, even within the CAM whether conventional or alternative, we hope to experience
community, has lagged well behind practitioners of other, now a healing. To still others, healing is a process—for example,
more accepted therapies such as acupuncture, Traditional Chi- Antonovsky’s concept of “salutogenesis.” When the patho-
genic process is halted, we then, ideally, may begin heal-
nese Medicine, herbal medicine, and even homeopathy.
ing—moving from a state of disease to a state of renewed
A principal impediment to the acceptance of healing as an health.2
established form of therapy has been its seeming resistance to
rigorous, systematic empirical research. There is good reason for
This paper examines healing mostly in the first context, as a
this perception; what published research exists indeed has been
modality of care delivered by a schooled practitioner to a patient
largely (but not exclusively) unrigorous and unsystematic.1 Yet
or client, and which, ideally, exhibits a therapeutic or otherwise
there is nothing implicit in the phenomenon of healing that
efficacious effect. The end result, hopefully, is healing in the
requires this to be so. Healing and healers are no less amenable
second context—the remission of a disease state and/or restora-
to serious scientific investigation than representative CAM-re-
tion of functioning and well-being— by way of mechanisms sub-
lated topics.2 Indeed, according to Benor,1 at least 50 method-
sumed under healing in the third context, as a salutogenic pro-
ologically sound studies of healing directed to various biological
cess. To be specific, we are speaking here of healing as the
organisms have been published, three quarters of which have
contact or noncontact therapeutic use of the hands, in proximity
reported statistically significant results indicative of efficacious
to the client or patient, and ostensibly transmitting a hypothet-
outcomes.
ical bioenergy or otherwise engaging and working with a subtle
Still, the promise of a field of sophisticated, programmatic
biologically based life force or field.
healing research remains mostly unfulfilled. Many of the good
Numerous schools or philosophies of energy healing exist in
studies are hidden away in obscure or nonmainstream journals
the United States, some of them supported by established edu-
and thus are unlikely to enter the academic discourse and stim-
cational and credentialing organizations. Among the most
ulate collaborative efforts. Moreover, despite existence of these
prominent are Reiki, Therapeutic Touch, Brennan, Jin Shin Do,
well-conducted studies, research to date has been plagued, over-
Healing Touch, Bruyere, Qigong, and Wirkus Bioenergy. Other
all, by methodologically flawed studies. These often include
well-known energy healers have built their respective brand
analyses informed by theoretically vacant perspectives, or no
through successful clinical practices and instruction and men-
perspective at all, and by inadequate conceptual models that do
torship offered to selected trainees. Although these approaches
not accurately reflect the understandings of healing work postu- differ in many important ways— conceptually, theoretically, and
lated by healers themselves. None of this is unique to healing. in terms of parameters by which energy healing is delivered—
common elements have been identified that justify classification
of the work of energy healers as a single modality. These pertain
1 Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC mainly to a shared mindset that characterizes successful heal-
2 Private practice, Topeka, KS ers regardless of approach. This mindset has been described in
# Corresponding Author. Address: similar, but not identical, ways. A noted esotericist denomi-
Web site: www.religionandhealth.com. nates “three D’s”— dispassion, discernment, and detach-

© 2008 by Elsevier Inc. Printed in the United States. All Rights Reserved EXPLORE May/June 2008, Vol. 4, No. 3 201
ISSN 1550-8307/08/$34.00 doi:10.1016/j.explore.2008.02.005
ment.4 LeShan,5 an early pioneer of healing research, impli- this perspective, but it is nonetheless offered as a call to attend
cates the ability to focus mentally and to sense a connection more carefully to conceptual and theoretical issues that must be
to the client. One of the present authors (L.M.), a bioenergy resolved before a scientific field can fully mature around this
practitioner (BP), identifies single-pointed relaxed focus (a topic.
sense of inner quiet), setting of an ideation or intention to be The present paper seeks to clarify conceptual and theoretical
helpful, and empathic compassion or loving kindness di- issues related to energy healing through consideration of a series
rected toward the client.6 of case reports based upon the practice of Wirkus Bioenergy.
One of the few energy healing approaches to have been sub- First, energy healing is described within the context of the salu-
ject to more than cursory empirical scrutiny is the technique togenic model of the natural history of health, developed by one
taught by Polish-born healer Mietek Wirkus. This school, of the present authors (J.L.). Second, the theory and practice of
known as Wirkus Bioenergy, is a noninvasive, nontouch method bioenergy healing are described, and three cases are presented—
based on the detection and manipulation of fields of low-fre- one an acute presentation, one a chronic degenerative disease,
quency subtle energies that encircle and interpenetrate the hu- and one a psychiatric case. These cases, and their interpretation,
man body, surrounding every cell like a blueprint or matrix and are derived from the many years of work of this paper’s other
serving as a medium for the flow of information.7 Unlike other author (L.M.), a master practitioner and teacher of Wirkus
forms of contact or noncontact healing, especially those pur- Bioenergy. Finally, implications of these findings are offered and
porting to involve psychic or supernatural powers, Wirkus de- discussed for clinical practice, education, and research.
scribes his technique as grounded in an energy transfer between
healer and healee—specifically, the sensation and transmission of
a real, physical energy that is associated with electromagnetic
THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS
energy.8 The immediate objective of a bioenergy session, accord-
Prevailing Western biomedical understandings of etiology and
ing to Wirkus, is to restore the innate balance between the bio-
treatment focus on the identification and eradication of those
chemical and bioenergetic components of the human body.7
factors that hasten pathogenesis, or the process of becoming
This form of bioenergy healing has been investigated by several
diseased, both in populations and in individuals. The course or
interested parties, including the U.S. military, the Menninger
spectrum of pathogenesis, from baseline health to the crossing
Clinic, and members of the academic community; empirical
of an outcome threshold, is typically depicted in several stages
reports have been published in mainstream, peer-reviewed basic
traversing exposure, pathological onset, symptomatology or the
science journals.9,10 Wirkus’ bioenergy technique has been
crossing of the clinical horizon, tissue changes resulting from
found capable of seemingly miraculous physical healings, and
symptomatic disease, a state of advanced disease, and, eventu-
Wirkus himself has generated sudden electrical surges registering ally, either chronic disease, disability, or death or some type of
80 volts and higher.11 recovery. This narration of the pathogenic process is known as
The work of healers, not surprisingly, has elicited controversy the natural history of disease.17
and skepticism. Superficially, the existence and transmission of Healing, as such, has no explicit place in this model, which
potentially therapeutic healing energy seem to contravene the accounts for its low profile in Western medicine. The word
conventional worldview underlying modern biomedicine, con- healing, where it is used at all, is reserved solely for the context of
structed as it is on a foundation of philosophical materialism, wound healing and granulation of a focal lesion. Western med-
mechanistic conceptions of human life, and a reductionistic ical treatment is mostly about intervening in the pathogenic
approach to disease etiology and treatment.12 Criticism and re- process, seeking to prevent further tissue and organ damage.
jection of bioenergy healing by Western physicians is thus not Reversal or undoing of the pathogenic process, restoration of
unexpected, especially in light of misunderstandings resulting prepathogenic states of health, or attainment of high-level states
from unfamiliarity with the topic.2 An example of the negative of wellness exceeding the prepathogenic condition—these are
tone sometimes injected into these critiques is that of one con- not emphasized in Western medicine. Indeed, models of the
troversial study purportedly debunking Therapeutic Touch,13 natural history of disease provide no guidance as to how to
which although overwhelmingly flawed and itself subsequently proceed. As a result, healing is not engaged as a concept, is not
debunked,14 was extremely strident in its triumphant denuncia- prioritized as a clinical objective, and is not empirically studied.
tion of healing and healers as inherently fraudulent. The most famous effort to rethink the pathogenic orientation
More sensitive and helpful criticism has been offered from of Western medical practice and biomedical science is found in
within the CAM community. For example, Dossey15 contends Antonovsky’s concept of salutogenesis.18,19 This concept, he
that energy healing, as a moniker and metaphor for the work of explained, is not just the flipside of pathogenesis—not just ori-
healers, is of limited use. The term energy does not make sense ented to effecting “backward” movement through the natural
when referring to a putative distant therapeutic effect that osten- history of disease, if that were even possible. Rather, it is some-
sibly pushes past the known limits, in space and time, of the thing radically different. Salutogenesis means the creation of
transmission of any form of energy ever validated experimen- health, or the fostering of healing, much as pathogenesis refers to
tally. He prefers use of the terms consciousness and nonlocal the creation or development of disease. Through the concept of
mind, since physical scientists have successfully validated and salutogenesis and his subsequent research and writing on the
made sense of the sorts of operations at a distance for these topic, Antonovsky wished to convey a fundamental point: that
constructs that experimental and theoretical work has yet to those factors that initiate and facilitate healing are not necessar-
validate for energy healing.16 Many healers would disagree with ily the reverse or negation of those factors that cause disease. For

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example, tobacco smoking may be a significant risk factor for More surprisingly, this focus is also characteristic of research
lung cancer and obesity may be etiologic for coronary artery on healing, even the best of this research. In so much of this
disease, but once advanced cases of these diseases have taken work, it is as if the healer is invisible and the interaction between
hold we would not expect smoking cessation or weight loss by healer and client is presumed to be a constant or invariant and
themselves to cause a malignant tumor to disappear or occluded thus unworthy of description, measurement, and control. This is
arteries to unclog, respectively. Healing, in this context, clearly well in keeping with the Western biomedical perspective of body
requires something more. as machine, practitioner as technician, and treatment as con-
Contemporary research findings from psychosocial epidemi- textless.
ology, medical sociology, and health psychology have been in- The highly laudable recommendations recently issued by the
tegrated with Antonovsky’s theoretical writing on salutogenesis Samueli Institute, for example, contain over 200 detailed guide-
to produce an alternative to the natural history of disease, fo- lines compiled to guide investigators in designing and conduct-
cused instead on the healing process. This model, developed by ing the best possible studies of healing.21 This report addresses
one of the present authors (J.L.), describes the stages that must be factors related to study design, subject selection, research meth-
traversed by an individual or population in moving from a ods, randomization, masking, placebos, controls, assessment,
pathophysiological state to a state of remission, recovery, or data collection, analysis, and more. Forty of these guidelines
cure, or to high-level wellness.17 The course or spectrum of pertain specifically to trials of biofield energy healing. None of
salutogenesis begins with the recruiting of a positive psycholog- these, however, has much to say about characterizing or assess-
ical state leading to what Antonovsky referred to as a sense of ing the healer or the healer-healee transaction, except for a cou-
coherence, and then in turn to a coping response, to host resis- ple of notes suggesting that practitioners be qualified and be
tance, and to decreased susceptibility to disease. These stages selected based on reputation or established effectiveness.
manifest in a sequentially experienced process of cognitive ap- Clearly, if even a fraction of the Samueli recommendations were
praisal, enhanced psychological competence, moderation or to be implemented, research on healing would be dramatically
buffering of a health threat, strengthening of one’s physical con- upgraded— but we can do better. For healing research, as for
stitution, and ultimately, amelioration of disease or disease risk. clinical research generally, the focus is still mostly on the diag-
This model of the natural history of health provides a saluto- nosis and the outcome, and much less so, if at all, on attributes
genic lens through which to conceptualize the healing process. It of the human beings sharing the care-giving/care-receiving rela-
identifies the pathways, and constituent biobehavioral and psy- tionship. The idealized case is what seems to matter; the unique-
chosocial touchstones, along which a diseased person or morbid nesses of the people involved and their shared experiences are
population must ideally travel in seeking to heal and to restore treated as less important.
wholeness. This model is presumably universal—that is, it oper- If detailed information descriptive of healers and how they ply
ates irrespective of classes of therapeutic interventions or puta- their trade was more systematically elicited as a part of research
tive physiological mediators. Whether induced and explained by studies of healing, what might we expect to observe? This is an
respective methods and mechanisms found in biomedicine, psy- important and difficult question. There are no consistent re-
chosocial therapies, bioenergy-based practices, nonlocal healing search data and few systematic observations to recommend spe-
(such as purported by paranormal healers), and even the super- cific areas to assess, but preliminary thoughts are offered here as
natural interventions believed in by the religiously devout, heal- a starting point. For example, an important variable may be the
ing comes about through an observable sequence of events that extent to which the client is cognitively and emotionally en-
are grounded in the capability of human beings to comprehend, gaged as a full partner in the healing experience. This might be
manage, and successfully cope with challenges and threats, thus assessed in conjunction with the extent to which the healer is
marshaling the body’s innate resources for restoring equilibrium willing to fill the role of facilitator and not just professional
and strengthening resistance.20 This is the crux of what An- expert provider of an external intervention. Might we hypothe-
tonovsky meant by his concept of coherence. size that healing encounters which are egalitarian, involving a
Such a perspective may shed valuable new light on the nature give-and-take of information and grounded in shared interac-
of the healing process, whether resulting from conventional tion, are more efficacious and lasting than healing experienced
medical treatment or from encounters with healers. In the con- solely as an actively dispensed product to a passive recipient?
text of energy healing, a salutogenic orientation would suggest, Might we also hypothesize a further increment in efficacy for
to start, that one consider the potential importance of character- healing that is experienced through a healer acting principally as
istics of the human actors engaged in the healing transaction. a facilitator of a client’s own pursuit of healing through self-
This would include not just the patient or client, but the healer, actualization, empowerment, and mastery? A close reading of
as well as features of the healer-healee exchange. Such consider- the work of mystics and healers from across the world’s esoteric
ations are rarely made in pathogenically oriented investigations healing traditions,22 supplemented by evidence from the litera-
of mainstream therapies, where the focus is typically on charac- tures on psychotherapy23,24 and spiritual development,25 sug-
teristics of the diagnosed disease entity and of the treatment, and gests something along these lines. These ideas, though, await
sometimes of the patient. This is not surprising, in light of the further exploration in the context of energy healing.
established conventions and worldview of Western biomedi- A different question is that of explanation: are there fleshed-
cine, which favor hierarchical power relationships and valuation out theories of healing that propose mechanisms of effect ac-
of physician-defined clinical observations over and above the counting for efficacious energy healing encounters? From an
self-perceptions of patients.2 emic perspective—that is, from within the ranks of energy healers

Bioenergy Healing EXPLORE May/June 2008, Vol. 4, No. 3 203

themselves—numerous theories of healing exist. As detailed else- layer. The practitioner stands several feet in front of the
where,1,26-29 healers taxonomically and typologically describe client with her arms extended forward, using her hands to
healing in many ways, engaging and differentiating concepts sense and correct energetic imbalances in the client’s astral
such as pra៮ na, magnetism, nous, bioplasm, and external Qi. layer and chakras.
Bioenergy practitioners typically have their own unique perspec- 6. The practitioner performs an overall energy reassessment of
tives on these issues. the etheric and astral layers.
Etic perspectives—that is, those originating outside of the en- 7. In the final step, the practitioner completes the session with
ergy healing world—may also be useful. Salutogenic theory sug- transmission of a mental message. At this point, the practi-
gests that well-being and health will result from successful efforts tioner reinforces the intention, set at the beginning of the
to enhance psychological coherence and coping, through the session, through transmission of a mental message directed
cognitive, affective, and psychophysiological benefits involved at the client’s sixth chakra, which regulates the mental layer
in restoring physical and psychological equilibrium or balance, of the body. The practitioner stands in front of the client,
strengthening one’s innate resistance-enhancing resources, and cups her hands behind the client’s head, creates a ball of
reducing one’s further susceptibility to disease. If one reads energy between her own sixth chakra and her hands with the
closely, this is not dissimilar (although communicated differ- client’s head in the middle, and projects a brief affirmative
ently) from how energy healers typically frame and describe their restatement of the original intention. She holds this for 30
work. Naturally, healers themselves might choose to emphasize seconds to a minute and closes the energy session by touch-
theories based on subtle energies or on cutting-edge physical ing her hands to a wall to “ground” extraneous energy accu-
science theories of consciousness, especially for nonlocal heal- mulated during the session.
ing at a distance. But for more proximal healing, whether contact
(touch) or noncontact, theoretical writing based on concepts of Underlying this practice model is a sophisticated theoretical
salutogenesis and the natural history of health seem capable of perspective on bioenergy. Many theoretical models postulate
describing a process akin to the therapeutic effect of healing how human energy fields are shaped, formed, and interact.
work. None has been proven or validated conclusively by Western
science, yet such models are ubiquitous among the world’s tra-
ditional societies,31 where normative understandings of an ener-
METHODS
getic field around the human body can be identified. These
The three cases presented below are representative of the work of
models or frameworks serve an instrumental function, most of
the coauthor (L.M.) of this paper, a BP and certified bodywork
all conceptually. To work within any system, one must first have
therapist with a private clinical practice in the Midwest. Detailed
information on master-level training and certification in Wirkus a good “map.” For bioenergy healers, and other CAM practitio-
Bioenergy is available elsewhere.30 ners, the four core constituent elements of subtle energy anat-
A typical bioenergy session with this practitioner includes the omy constitute just such a map: (a) the subtle bodies or sheaths,
following sequence of steps: (b) the subtle energy centers or chakras, (c) bioenergy, and (d) the
subtle energy channels. These concepts go by a variety of names
1. Upon greeting the client, the practitioner establishes an ini- across cultures and therapeutic systems. The present author,
tial energetic impression based on her intuitive faculties. informed by her training in Wirkus Bioenergy,32 in myofascial
2. The practitioner takes a history to establish a baseline for release, and in modalities based on Traditional Chinese Medi-
bioenergetic intervention. This is a medical and/or personal cine, has developed an understanding that is at once sui generis
history and elicits any current symptomatology. and also contextually within a mostly Chinese (rather than In-
3. The practitioner and client reach a mutual agreement on dian) conceptual framework. In other words, she prefers Qi to
overall clinical objectives, setting an intention for the bioen- pra៮ na and meridians to na៮ dı៮s, distinctions that are substantive
ergy session or sessions. and not just denominative,33 while retaining selected Indian
4. The BP begins the formal bioenergy session by assessing the concepts. The development of an eclectic personal model of
etheric layer of the energy field. This field extends approxi- subtle energy anatomy and physiology, incidentally, is not un-
mately one to three inches around the entire physical body. common among BPs, who typically possess an eclectic educa-
The assessment is done by, first, creating a “ball” of energy tional background.
between the practitioner’s hands, using a deep rhythmic In the present practice model, the human energy field com-
breathing technique. This field of energy between the hands prises seven interpenetrating sheaths or layers of energy arranged
is then used by the practitioner to evaluate and correct im- in a three-dimensional web spreading out from a vertical channel
balances in the client’s etheric field. This is accomplished by located in the center of the body. In the energy philosophy of
placing the energy ball around the client’s body, first around India, this is known as the shushumna៮ channel. The shushumna៮ is
the left side of the body and then around the right, and situated in the energy field adjacent to the location of the spinal
slowly scanning down the field. Using the ball of energy, the column in the physical body. It is flanked, on the left and right,
practitioner “offers” extra energy to areas of depletion and by respective subsidiary channels known as the ៮ıda៮ and pingala៮ .
helps to release areas of congestion and distortion. (These These channels marshal energy that creates and gives form to
three concepts are explained in more depth later.) discrete energy vortices or centers, which in turn serve as distri-
5. The practitioner begins to evaluate and correct imbalances bution points for the energy gathered originally by the central
in the client’s astral field, which extends beyond the etheric channel. These energy centers, which resemble three-dimen-

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sional toroids (or doughnut-shaped objects), are known as It is important to note that we have not attempted to describe
chakras, the Sanskrit word for wheels. In most conceptual mod- how these states of pathology feel to the practitioner of bioen-
els, seven major chakras are identified, lined up from “root” to ergy. There is a very important reason for this. Bioenergy feels
“crown.” Like totems, each one is believed to be associated or unique to each individual sensing it; therefore, there is no “cor-
affiliated with an array of corresponding elements: an endocrine rect” way of sensing or perceiving bioenergy. Although there
gland, a nerve plexus, a color, a tone, an emotion, a mantram, etc. may be common elements involved in the physical or intuitive
The chakras are differentiated by vibratory rate— higher frequen- perception of subtle energies—in techniques that are employed
cies as one moves upward along the chakra system—and they and particular affects, or emotions, that arise—it is important for
possess different functions, analogous to our major organs and a practitioner to develop his or her own definitional framework
their respective functions. Together, the chakras have much to for how energy is recognized and experienced.
say about the structure, function, and vitality of the body, emo- Further, although the practitioner must hold a strong inten-
tions, and mind. tion to be of benefit to the client, there is no imperative for the
The energy gathered and distributed by the main channels BP to drive or manipulate the client’s energy field in a predeter-
and then regulated and distributed further by the chakras is mined direction according to a standard model of practice.
known in Traditional Chinese Medicine as Qi. Within this sys- Bioenergy work is done to facilitate the balanced flow of energy
tem, numerous types of Qi are posited, each with a specialized and information throughout the client’s entire energy field. This
function. Qi, in turn, flows throughout the human vehicle along practice can be analogous to jumpstarting a car battery. Once the
a network of primary and secondary channels known as merid- cables are hooked up between the working battery and the strug-
ians. The meridian system is akin to the circulatory, lymphatic, gling battery, the charge that is offered flows naturally through
and nervous systems of the gross physical body in that it consti- the system to where it is needed. Water seeks its own level, the
tutes a single open system of branching connections trans- saying goes, and so does bioenergy. The BP’s clinical objective is
porting and circulating Qi to all points near and far. Qi has not to treat a disease process, but rather to enable a client’s
several physiological functions, including nourishing, warming, energy to go where it needs to go— by rectifying depletions,
strengthening, and protecting the body. When Qi cannot flow smoothing out distortions, and removing congestion. The cor-
freely and unimpeded, physical pathology can result.34 rections or healings that occur in bioenergy practice are a result
The BP seeks to facilitate the flow of bioenergy throughout of the energy system rebalancing itself. Once the system has
these layers, channels, and centers, known collectively as the been provided sufficient and appropriate energy to establish a
biofield.35 According to existing theories of bioenergy, this greater degree of balance, it can begin to draw on this innate
biofield surrounding the body of all living beings, including resource to correct itself.
human beings, constitutes a dynamic field or “living matrix” of It is interesting to observe how well this bioenergetic perspec-
information.36 This matrix communicates information to and tive on the healing process parallels key features of the emerging
among the various layers of the human energy body, instructing salutogenic model that has originated from within the academic
or informing the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual states biobehavioral and sociomedical sciences. Although character-
of the individual. Specifically, the bioenergy circulates through- ized quite differently, essential points emphasized in the bioen-
out the biofield and then penetrates our meridian system, which ergetic model are consonant with concepts and processes postu-
then gives direction to all levels of our being. Correcting and lated throughout the work of Antonovsky and located within the
maintaining this system of energy allows for a free flow of infor- present author’s (J.L.) natural history of health.17 Bioenergy
mation, which in turn enables the biofield to self-regulate—that healers and population health scientists may come from vastly
is, to automatically correct any imbalance that may be causing different worlds and visualize the same terrain through vastly
symptomatic or presymptomatic disease. different lenses, but the outcome objectives implicit in these
Certain challenges present in the energy field are commonly otherwise very different models seem to parallel each other
encountered by energy practitioners. These include energy de- closely.
pletion, distortion, and congestion. A depletion in the energy First, bioenergy practice emphasizes, as a clinical objective,
field refers to a deficiency of energy in a particular region of the what epidemiologists refer to as host resistance—the strengthen-
field, which can manifest on multiple layers. A distortion of the ing or bolstering of the client’s physical constitution and innate
energy field is characterized by an area in which energy is present physiological resources to enable one to withstand pathogenic
but not evenly distributed, as it otherwise would be in a balanced exposures or threats, thus ameliorating susceptibility to disease
energy field. It has a quality of nonregularity. Congestion in the and/or facilitating recovery. Second, BPs seek to achieve this by
energy field refers to an obvious excess of energy, or blockage in enhancing a client’s sense of coherence—Antonovsky’s term for
the flow of energy, located in a particular region of the field, the cognitive, affective, and behavioral competencies that en-
which again can manifest on multiple layers. This understanding able one to make sense of, address, and successfully cope with
of bioenergetic pathophysiology is strongly informed by per- such challenges. Third, bioenergy can be applied not just to
spectives on nosology and pathology taught in Wirkus Bioen- reverse or correct an ill client’s pathological state and to restore
ergy training, notably with respect to depletion and conges- balance, but also to prevent future pathology in a normal client
tion.32 But this taxonomy also recapitulates concepts ubiquitous and to elevate a healthy client to a state of high-level wellness.
throughout systems and schools of esoteric healing, in general, The facility with which the concepts and practices of BPs can be
which consistently implicate congestion and imbalance (akin to accommodated by a salutogenic perspective attests to the prom-
this model’s distortion) as markers or indicators of disease.22 ise of this conceptual and theoretical framework as a template for

Bioenergy Healing EXPLORE May/June 2008, Vol. 4, No. 3 205

making sense of the healing process, which, ideally, is also mo- and was pain free. As follow-up, the client returned to accom-
bilized by the application of other CAM modalities. pany his wife at her own bioenergy session almost two years later,
in August 2006. He reported that he has been almost completely
pain free since the initial session and had resumed normal activ-
CASES ities, including sports.
The following three cases are representative of the bioenergy
practice of the present author (L.M.), as well as of the types of Case 2
complaints referred to other experienced BPs. These include a The client was a 24-year-old Caucasian female, married with no
self-referred acute case (severe back pain), a chronic case (consti- children. She presented in April, 2002, complaining of lifelong,
pation) referred by another client, and a practitioner-referred chronic constipation. The client was referred to the BP by her
medical case (pain and depression). The descriptions that follow mother. The client stated that she had suffered from constipa-
exemplify how a BP typically assesses and works with clients tion since she was a small child. She had used over-the-counter
presenting with these classes of complaints. medicines regularly in an effort to cope with this problem. She
was curious to see if bioenergy work could help resolve her
symptoms.
Case 1
The BP began the bioenergy session and soon noticed an area
The client was a 39-year-old Caucasian male, married with two
of energy congestion around the lower abdomen in the etheric
children under the age of ten. He presented with severe back
layer, as well as significant congestion of the second and third
pain in December 2004. The onset of pain had occurred sud-
chakras of the astral layer. The BP attributed this to external
denly, within the past six months. He was recently diagnosed
energetic influences related to her family of origin. There also
with disc degeneration and was recommended for back surgery
appeared to be sluggishness in the client’s ability to energetically
by two different surgeons. The procedure was to place a “spinal
process her emotions. The BP helped her to release these old
cage” around the lower vertebrae. The client had heard of the
energy congestions. There also appeared to be an area of conges-
work of the BP from another client of the BP and was self-
tion in the etheric and astral layers around the right shoulder and
referred. The client expressed great apprehension over the rec-
neck area. The BP intuited that this was related to the client
ommended surgery. He had been told that he would be unable
having extremely high expectations of herself, often associated
to participate in sports nor would he be able to lift his children
with congestion in the fifth chakra. The BP asked the client
and hold them in his arms after surgery. Prior to bioenergy work,
about this, and the client agreed that this was a huge issue in the
the BP tested the client’s range of motion (ROM). The client had
client’s life and always had been. The BP worked to relieve the
little ability to bend either forward or backward, and these min-
congestion in these areas, as well as to facilitate the movement of
imal movements were accompanied by significant pain.
energy through the chakras, particularly the second and third
The BP began the bioenergy session and immediately “saw”
chakras. The client experienced very noticeable sensations dur-
issues regarding the care of the client’s father. This seeing, or
ing energy work, such as “pulling and releasing” of energy in the
observation, manifested in two ways. First, the BP intuited the
abdomen area.
situation regarding the client’s father as an image in her mind, in
Once the session was completed, the client was instructed to
a complete piece, as it were. Second, the BP visually saw a large
report back with her post-session experiences. The client called
field of congested energy radiating around the client’s right hip
back a week later and reported that for several days following the
and lower back. The BP then asked the client about the health of
bioenergy session, she experienced multiple bowel movements
his father, and the client immediately burst into tears. He ex-
per day, some with very thick, dark stools. These events were
plained that his father was recently placed in a nursing home and
transient, and she was now having regular daily bowel move-
that his siblings had refused to be involved with the care of their
ments, which she never recalled experiencing before in her life.
father. This left the client to carry the entire weight of this
The BP has maintained regular contact with the client, working
responsibility on his own. As a result of a very busy work sched-
with her on other energetic issues as well as working with mem-
ule, providing for his immediate family, and now being the sole
bers of her family. The client continues to report that she has
caretaker for an aging and ill parent, the client felt emotionally
never again suffered from constipation since the initial bioen-
and physically overwhelmed.
ergy session in 2002. She also reports being surprised by the fact
The BP found that congestion was present in the etheric,
that she no longer seems to be so highly self-critical.
astral, and mental layers of the energy field. She then performed
bioenergy work to relieve the area of congestion around the right
hip and lower back. When the BP retested the client, he had Case 3
gained full ROM. The client could also nearly touch his toes and The client was a 55-year-old African-American female, married
had gained the ability to bend backwards very deeply with no with three adult children. She first presented in April 2005 with
pain. He said that he felt a “stretch,” but no pain at all. The BP numerous physical and emotional complaints. These included,
finished the session with a short interlude of cranial-sacral work. but were not limited to, depression, fibromyalgia, fatigue, back
This was done with the client lying supine on a treatment table and neck pain, and insomnia. These conditions were diagnosed
while the BP placed her hands on the area where discomfort had by various physicians, who subsequently prescribed a variety of
been present. The BP also recommended that the client seek medications, including Wellbutrin (bupropion) and Ritalin
help at his father’s nursing home for assistance in how to manage (methylphenidate). The client was referred to the BP by her
caring for his father. The client left this session with full ROM physical therapist, to whom she had been referred by her pri-

206 EXPLORE May/June 2008, Vol. 4, No. 3 Bioenergy Healing

mary care physician. The client reported a history of childhood pathophysiological conditions, and (b) the potential value of
physical and emotional abuse as well as neglect. By the time she alternatives to pathogenically oriented theoretical models such
reached her 40s, she had been formally diagnosed with depres- as the natural history of disease, especially for understanding the
sive symptomatology. This resulted in psychiatric hospitaliza- healing process, whether resulting from energy healing or from
tion and years of psychotherapy and medical treatment, includ- any other complementary or mainstream medical modality.
ing electroconvulsive therapy. The practice model of healing described in this article has
When the client first presented to the BP, she was marginally features that distinguish it from the methods of Western clini-
functional. She was able to participate in volunteer work in her cians. Bioenergy healing seeks to address the whole person and
community and to care for her home in a limited fashion but was to empower one’s innate healing resources—not to attack a dis-
unable to go through an entire day without frequent naps and ease process, the objective (stated or unstated) of Western bio-
was easily overwhelmed by physical and emotional stimuli. At medicine. The principal objective of a bioenergy session, by
such times, she became unable to function. The client was still in contrast, is not the alleviation of disease, but rather promotion
the care of her psychiatrist and psychotherapist, and the BP was of what has been termed “human flourishing,”37 regardless of
able to consult with the physical therapist regarding this case,
external circumstances. Some healers, the present author (L.M.)
when necessary.
included, believe that human health is not achieved solely by
Once the BP began the bioenergy session, she saw significant
remission of disease, but by creating an opportunity for clients
congestion around the client’s lower abdomen in the etheric
to access and maintain a state of peace and well-being. That this
layer. She also noted significant depletion of the client’s first
often creates the circumstances for “miraculous” healings of
chakra. Depletion of this energy center is often seen when a
client presents with low energy levels or with diagnoses such as physical and emotional disease processes is a happy coincidence
fibromyalgia or depression. In this instance, the BP conducted of the more primary objective.
monthly bioenergy sessions to release congestion in the etheric The author’s experience with bioenergetic healing has led her
layer of the lower abdomen and gradually strengthen the first to believe that efficacious bioenergy work is not accomplished
chakra, specifically its ability to distribute energy. She also by projecting healing at the client, but rather is intimately tied to
sought to nourish the spleen chakra on the etheric layer, which the practitioner’s ability to hold this state of peace and well-
is believed to be the main distributor of energy for this layer. being within oneself. Accordingly, the practitioner must simul-
This work was done progressively, allowing for a gentler shift of taneously facilitate a healing and experience the healing state. In
energy to release a long-term pattern. the author’s experience, this can only succeed among BPs who
The client gradually began to notice a change in her emotions are maintaining a daily contemplative practice that seeks to mo-
and physical endurance. Eight months following the initial bilize these states within themselves. Through a daily routine of
bioenergy session, the client reported feeling much more ener- maintaining single-pointed focus, compassion for all beings, and
gized and much less depressed. She was able to experience some the intention to be of service,6 a mindset is reinforced that not
very significant family emotional challenges while remaining only is applied in subsequent clinical encounters but becomes a
present and calm. She no longer required daily naps. Her back way of life. Bioenergy practitioners, in this respect, may point
pain remitted and her overall sense of well-being greatly in- the way toward a future in which each of us can become our own
creased. The client has continued to work with the BP approxi- healer. Naturally, we would still seek aid for serious health chal-
mately once per month since the initial session. These follow-up lenges, but we would recognize that successful healing is ulti-
sessions provide a regular opportunity to balance the client’s mately attributable, in large part, to characteristics of ourselves
energy field. The client is also learning energetic self-regulation and not solely to those of a particular practitioner or therapeutic
techniques during her sessions, such as methods to center her modality.
energy and focus her attention. These enable her to monitor and This perspective differs not only from the Western biomedi-
regulate her own energy between sessions. In the two years since cal model, but from many contemporary CAM modalities. All
beginning bioenergy sessions, the client’s physicians have been too often, therapeutic practices originating in ancient teaching
able to adjust her medications. and healing lineages have become co-opted by Western medi-
cine as a result of the latter’s well-intentioned efforts to rational-
ize and integrate CAM practices into mainstream medical care.
DISCUSSION Recent efforts to patent and license yoga techniques and herbal
The presentation of these three cases exemplifies how subtle remedies provide representative examples.38 Such practices are
energy anatomy and physiology operate in pathophysiological thus no longer integral components of complex, holistic models
and clinical contexts. Moreover, resolution of these cases in- of genuine human flourishing, but instead are reduced to stand-
vokes phenomena and themes consonant with the concepts and alone interventions, like pills, whose effectiveness may be com-
processes postulated by salutogenic models such as the natural promised when divorced from their natural context. Practitio-
history of health. This is important to acknowledge, as the clin- ners of healing work, of whatever type, would do well to
ical course of these cases subsequent to working with a BP can- advocate for a practice model whereby their interventions,
not easily be accommodated by existing understandings of whether medical, psychotherapeutic, or energetic, strive to focus
pathophysiology and therapeutics favored by Western biomed- on restoring function to and enhancing the general well-being of
icine. The take-away points here are thus twofold: (a) the poten- the whole person and not solely on eradicating discrete patho-
tial value of bioenergy work for clients presenting with certain logical states.

Bioenergy Healing EXPLORE May/June 2008, Vol. 4, No. 3 207

 To this end, the professional training of healers will need to lead to these outcomes. We believe that this reflects the general
move beyond the weekend workshop model of continuing edu- disregard for conceptual and theoretical engagement of these
cation and credentialing, which is typical of both energy healing topics within Western medicine in general.
and Western medicine. The training of healers must focus more What is required to change this are efforts to reconcile the
explicitly on fostering an understanding of the broader context concepts and theories of healers with the basic-science knowl-
that informs the healing technique being learned. It also should edge of Western biomedicine, and in turn to integrate these
facilitate the kind of personal growth that is required to embody understandings into emerging theories of health and healing.
the states of wholeness and balance that healers seek to engender This paper has sought to make a contribution to this end, but
in their clients, as described earlier. Participation in a brief sem- much is left to accomplish. The need for collaborative partner-
inar or retreat does not sufficiently qualify one as a “master ships between clinicians, research scientists, and BPs (and other
healer,” no matter any official designation bestowed upon at- healers) may seem like an obvious point, but so far it has not
tendees. The training of healers must instead instill a recognition been realized. Yet without such collaboration, the conceptual
that being a healer is a lifelong commitment to personal as well and theoretical integration called for cannot be achieved, no
as professional development. If healers are to be effective facili- matter the good intentions of all parties involved. Each player
tators of human flourishing in their clients, then they will need brings something unique, and indispensable, to the table, and
to cultivate this state within themselves. Naturally, this is a very without all of the pieces, the puzzle will not be completed.
different understanding of the training model than is found in It is difficult in the setting of this present paper to identify
Western medicine or even in many CAM modalities. explicitly just what all of the key scientific questions and research
As for the education of physicians about healing, advocates of foci will turn out to be as we begin, more systematically, to
healing work have good reason for hope. Granted, the day may explore the phenomenon of energy healing. But it can be stated
not come soon when Western physicians are routinely offered with full confidence that Western clinicians and biomedical
elective training in energy healing, as has occurred in some nurs- scientists working in isolation will never be able to identify these
ing schools since the 1970s. Undergraduate and postgraduate issues nor investigate them successfully. They do not have the
medical education is already a full plate; moreover, we recognize substantive understanding of bioenergy practice possessed by
that there are other pressing priorities. Contact or noncontact credentialed healers, nor are they likely to be familiar with recent
healing is unlikely to replace or preempt elements of Western work on the production of health and healing conducted by
medicine in the near future, no matter the utopian visions of those behavioral, social, and public health scientists who special-
some proponents of healing. But energy healers are already be- ize in population-health theory and research. Such collabora-
coming integrated into the conventional primary care medical tion, admittedly, may not come easily in the present academic
and funding environment. But partnerships like the one that
practices of those physicians envisioning a more holistic model
produced the present paper are well worth pursuing if we wish to
of the team approach to office-based medicine. More and more,
further our understanding of the salutogenic process that occurs
healers are working alongside body workers, CAM practitioners,
not just in response to bioenergy work, but as a result of effective
and the usual allied health professionals who populate such
conventional and complementary medical therapies of all types.
practices. Healers have begun to fill important niches in these
settings, as well as in hospitals and pain treatment centers. They
provide follow-up care for clients with diagnosed chronic con- Acknowledgments
ditions; offer cost-effective, safe, and noninvasive treatment; are The authors thank Lea Steele, PhD, Dave Kendall, MA, and
a source of hands-on human contact and compassionate sup- Judith Citrin for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this
port, a secondary outcome with potential therapeutic benefit; manuscript.
and furnish medical colleagues with useful feedback regarding
patients’ bioenergetic status.6
In nearly all prior biomedical research and writing on this
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